APRIL 2018 - AudioFile
Let’s hope that author Karen Ellis (a pseudonym for crime fiction writer Katia Lief) has secured the services of narrator Lisa Flanagan for the rest of this series. Flanagan adds color to the dialogue and depth to the characterizations in this well-crafted but routine FBI procedural. Elsa Myers, a troubled FBI special agent with some serious family issues, is in pursuit of a serial killer who preys on teenage girls. Flanagan uses her narrator's toolbox to elevate this mystery into an audio page-turner. Can Elsa save the girls, resolve her internal conflicts, and chill out enough to date the criminal defense lawyer? As in Lief's previous books, much of the action takes place on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, and listeners may also relate to the fact that Elsa listens to David Sedaris audiobooks. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
10/09/2017
At the start of this riveting series launch from the pseudonymous Ellis, FBI special agent Elsa Myers, a member of the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Unit operating out of New York City, answers a summons from Det. Lex Cole, who’s fresh out of vice and new to missing child cases, to meet him at his office in Queens. Ruby Haverstock, a 17-year-old high school student with a stable home life and no cause to run away, has disappeared. Ruby was last seen at the Queens café where she worked part-time. Oddly, just before the end of her shift, she turned off the security camera and buzzed someone in. As the time clock for finding Ruby ticks down, Elsa and Lex chase numerous false leads and Elsa attempts to balance the investigation and familial obligations: her father is dying in a hospital north of the city. When a suspect is finally revealed, so is a deeply personal connection to Elsa. Multiple points of view and glimpses into Elsa’s dark past heighten tension; the tight plotting will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
"[A] thrilling launch of a new series . . . Works well as a solid police procedural and also an in-depth character study . . . Elsa maps out the darkness of a predator that preys on teenagers while navigating her own dark place."—Oline Cogdill, Associated Press
"One of the most compelling psychological thrillers I've read in a long time, A Map of the Dark grabs you from the very first page and does not loosen its grip. I read this book in a day—I simply could not put it down—but I will be thinking about it for much longer."—Alison Gaylin, USA Today bestselling author of What Remains of Me
"A Map of the Dark is a taut, tense, exciting read with a sharp and very human protagonist."—Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author of What You Break
"A terrific novel, wonderfully written, richly populated, and utterly gripping from start to finish"—Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of The Travelers
"[A] riveting series launch . . . The tight plotting will keep readers turning the pages."—Publishers Weekly
"[A] satisfying debut . . . Ellis writes with a lyrical economy. . . . Readers will savor getting to know this singular heroine."—Kirkus Reviews
"Elegant, haunting . . . a far-from-ordinary FBI novel."—Literary Hub, "15 Books You Should Read This January"
"Tight prose, strong characters, and deft storytelling... A riveting tale that begs to be read in one sitting. Readers who enjoy police procedurals and Karin Slaughter's thrillers will delight in discovering a new voice."—Library Journal
"A tense tale . . . Compelling . . . A solid choice for readers who enjoy Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series."—Booklist
"A beautifully rendered portrait of familial grief, loss, and decades-old demons wrapped inside a terrific race-against-time thriller starring a believably flawed heroine. I hope we haven't seen the last of FBI agent Elsa Myers, whose choices, past and present, will haunt me for a very long time."—Sarah Weinman, editor of Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & '50s and Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives
"Deftly plotted and packed with blind curves, A Map of the Dark careens into dangerous territory, where Karen Ellis entwines complex storylines with breakneck precision. A must-read for fans of taut, unpredictable psychological suspense."—Wendy Corsi Staub, bestselling author of Blue Moon
"A riveting, breathless novel, equal parts police procedural and emotional personal journey. Karen Ellis's twisty plot, dark storytelling, and nail-biting action kept me reading far too late into the night. A triumph!"—Karen Dionne, author of The Marsh King's Daughter
Library Journal
11/01/2017
FBI agent Elsa Myer has a lot on her plate. Her father is dying of cancer. Her relationships with her sister and niece are complicated. And she's been assigned the case of a missing girl, abducted from Forest Hills, Queens, who may be the victim of a serial offender. When not interviewing witnesses or chasing down leads, Elsa keeps vigil at her terminally ill father's bedside. There she traces memories of her own difficult childhood—including a series of horrific events that continue to define her. While savvy readers won't have too much trouble identifying the kidnapper or teasing out the shocking revelation at the center of Elsa's tragic backstory, they will still be captivated by the tight prose, strong characters, and deft storytelling. VERDICT Ellis, the pen name for crime novelist Katia Lief ("Karin Schaeffer" series), has written a riveting tale that begs to be read in one sitting. Readers who enjoy police procedurals and Karin Slaughter's thrillers will delight in discovering a new voice.—Amy Hoseth, Colorado State Univ. Lib., Fort Collins
APRIL 2018 - AudioFile
Let’s hope that author Karen Ellis (a pseudonym for crime fiction writer Katia Lief) has secured the services of narrator Lisa Flanagan for the rest of this series. Flanagan adds color to the dialogue and depth to the characterizations in this well-crafted but routine FBI procedural. Elsa Myers, a troubled FBI special agent with some serious family issues, is in pursuit of a serial killer who preys on teenage girls. Flanagan uses her narrator's toolbox to elevate this mystery into an audio page-turner. Can Elsa save the girls, resolve her internal conflicts, and chill out enough to date the criminal defense lawyer? As in Lief's previous books, much of the action takes place on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens, and listeners may also relate to the fact that Elsa listens to David Sedaris audiobooks. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2017-10-17
A troubled FBI agent must find a missing teen while coming to terms with her father's impending death in the pseudonymous Ellis' satisfying debut.Special Agent Elsa Myers of the New York City Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Unit is good at her job, but it doesn't quite explain why she's pulled away from her father's bedside to join in the hunt for Ruby Haverstock, a missing 17-year-old girl. Elsa is partnered with former NYPD vice detective Alexei "Lex" Cole, who's new to missing persons cases. Lex turns out to be an able partner, but he irritates as much as intrigues Elsa, who isn't one to get close to anyone—and is hiding her own secrets. Over the course of about a week, Elsa and Lex's search takes them into the mind of a man with a dark mission, one they must decipher before it's too late. Ellis writes with a lyrical economy, alternating between glimpses into Elsa's fraught childhood and the case at hand. Elsa loves her father but resents him for not shielding her from the vicious punishments meted out by her mother, who was killed when Elsa was 16. The insights into Elsa's pain and her crippling compulsion to cut herself, honed while hiding from her mother's violent outbursts, are particularly affecting: "She scratches every neon-pulsing scar on her legs, hips, stomach, arms. The pictogram of her failures heat to the hard edges of her fingernails, the crude blade-drawn outlines of sometimes something—a closed eye with lashes, a bird able to fly away, a marble capable of rolling away unseen, the number 7 because she once thought it was lucky—and often nothing, just scratches, cuts tallied on her skin."Readers will savor getting to know this singular heroine, a cop who feels the call of a lost child as sharply as the knife's edge that she uses to score her own skin.
